Dance with me
by PotatoPenguin46
Summary: Orphan black/dance moms crossover. Cosima and Delphine take their daughter Emilia to the world renowned ALDC


Quick little bit of context -

AU- Cosima and Delphine are together with a daughter- Emilia - Delphine enlists her at the Abby Lee Dance Company

poulpe - octopus

Driving towards the building, Delphine checked her watch to make sure she wasn't late, even though she left an hour early. It drove Cosima nuts, her need to be dead on time for everything, though she supposed it would be a good thing for Emilia to learn from Delphine rather than herself. Even after seven years being together, Cosima still never managed to be on time, even though they travelled most places together. She always found a way.

It was a chilly day, a lot of cloud and not much sun. Much to her resentment, Delphine had bundled Emilia up so tightly she could barely walk along. She wore her fluffy hooded puffer jacket, her blue jeans (in which Cosima had sewn a little DNA strand into) and her multi-coloured matching mittens and scarf that Alison had made. Insisting it was going to rain, Emilia shoved on her green wellies that Helena had bought her from Ukraine.

"Mama! I want my wellies!" Emilia screeched when they were about to leave. Delphine was no pushover, but at the same time she knew her daughter just wanted to wear her favourite shoes, and, to be honest with herself, she wanted an easy day. She wanted Emilia to enjoy herself, as she had been looking forward to this day since she was merely two or three.

Emilia couldn't speak much English when she was younger, as Cosima and Delphine lived with Delphine's parents for the first couple of years after Emilia was born, and they insisted they would only speak in French to her. Cosima wanted her daughter to be bilingual, nd Delphine had agreed to teach her little words in French when she was young and then move on to more complicated things when she was older. Soon, as Delpine and Cosima would speak English to her, and Nanny and Grandad would speak French, she began to get very confused, and often just resulted to not speaking at all.

After finally getting a place of their own, only a small one, just a little two bedroom house near Sarah and Kira, the two decided to hold off on the French until she was older. Even with this, she still picked up and recognised little words that Delphine would mutter sometimes, like "Cherie" or when Delphine would play with her in the bath she would write sea creature names on the wall with her crayons. "Poulpe" was a favourite.

Parking next to a pale green fiat, Delphine climbed out of her car and unclipped Emilia from the back. She leaped out, skipped round to the boot, and tried to open it. Delphine smiled at her eagerness, "Much like her mother." Delphine thought, reminding herself to take loads of photos to send to Cos later, as she had been stuck at work since 5 AM this morning, assisting with a major gene therapy project.

Pulling Emilia's little dance bag out and locking the car, she took her daughter's hand and lead her up to the famous big red doors of the Abby Lee Dance Company.

A huge smile was painted across her face. Letting go of her Mama's hand, Emilia pushed open the doors and leaped into building. Staring up at the receptionist, she jumped up to see who this strange lady was.

Cosima, of course, practically grew up with this woman. Her and Gia went to secondary school together, and late flat shared with her. She was a really lovely person, especially through the skype calls when she was doing yoga through her pregnancy with Emilia.

"Bonjourrrrrr!" Gia exclaimed, leaping out of her seat to greet Delphine and Emilia. embracing her in a hug, Delpine smiled and bent down to Emilia's level and explained who she was.

After signing papers and finally enrolling her, the main reason Delphine had brought Emilia here walked through the door.

Abby Lee Miller.

"Hello!" Abby exclaimed, her American accent clear. "Who do we have here then?" She asked, looking down to Emilia.

"Go on, say hi!" Delphine prompted her, whilst letting go of her little hand.

"Hi." Emilia paused, before carrying on. "My name's Emilia." she said, uncharacteristically quiet.

"Well, hello Emilia, my name is Miss Abby. I understand you are here with your mother to take dance classes here?"

Emilia's face lit back up again when Abby said the word 'dance'. The little one frantically nodded her head in excitement. Picking up her Dora the explorer backpack, so eager to go. Facing Delphine, Abby extended her hand out to meet hers.

"Abby Lee Miller. Nice to finally meet at last. I've been hearing about your little family for weeks now. It's all Gianna ever talks about." Delphine chuckled lightly, before shaking Abby's hand.

"Delphine Cormier. Nice to meet you too. Cosima's told me loads about you guys too." Delphine smiled, letting go of the older woman's hand.

Turning back to Emilia, who was back to clutching her Mama's hand, Abby said "Well, come on then! Let's get you dancing!"

Smiling up at Delphine, she nodded and proceeded to follow Miss Abby down the corridor into the "Dancers den" which Abby explained is where everyone on the team gets ready and hangs out. She then took the pair to each studio, and then finally showed them the sitting are where Abby explained that Delphine could watch Emilia from.

"I think its time you met some of the other girls on the Junior troop Emilia." Abby wavered for three little girls to come over and say hi. "Girls, introduce yourselves to Emilia and Delphine."

The tallest of the three was the first to speak up. "Hey I'm Maddie." The tall girl smiled, her goofy teeth poking out. "Hi I'm Nia." she smiled, and Emilia smiled back. "And I'm Chloe."

The four girls began chatting away as if they had known each other for years, and for Delphine and Cosima, they knew once Emilia started talking, nothing could shut her up. Unpacking Emilia's bag and putting her coat on the hook, Delphine decided it was time for her to go and sit upstairs and meet all the other mothers.

"Honey, class is about to start, so Mama's going to sit upstairs and watch you from there okay?" Delphine softly said, wanting her daughter to socialise and have fun without her.

"Okay Mama. Love you." Emilia replied hugging Delphine tightly, her thick brown hair in Delphine's face.

"I love you too. I'll see you in a bit, yeah. And you can tell me everything." Delphine let go of Emilia, and let her get back to chatting with Nia.

Climbing up the stairs, Delphine felt a sense of relief that Emilia had made friends already. At school she mostly just hung around with Kira or Charlotte, as they spent a lot of time together outside of school anyway. It was good for her to branch out, Cosima kept telling her, although Delphine was fine with just Kira and Charlotte. Occasionally she would play out the front of the house with her friend Ben, but that would be a rare occasion. Nevertheless, as long as Emilia was happy that was all Delphine cared about.

Making her way to the front of the stairs where, from the back, she could see all the tops of the mothers' heads. Taking a deep breath in, she wondered round the block of seating.

"Hi!" She exclaimed, as all the mothers started chiming in and welcoming her. "My name's Delphine, and my Daughter's name is Emilia." She smiled, noticing how all the mothers picked up on her accent pretty quickly.

"So, you're French, I take it?" the bleach-blonde haired woman spoke. _She must be Chloe's mother._ Delphine thought _._

 _"_ Yes, although I moved to Pittsburg a long time ago." Delphine smiled. The women began to introduce themselves.

"I'm Melissa, my daughters are Maddie and Mackenzie."

"I'm Christi, my daughter is Chloe."

"I'm Holly, my daughter is Nia."

"I'm Kelly, my daughters are Paige and Brooke."

"And I'm Jill, my daughter is Kendall. Nice to meet you Delphine." Jill smiled, and started asking Delphine about her life.

"So, do you have any other children?" Jill asked.

"No, just Emilia, we only ever wanted one. We do have a dog though, a cocker spaniel named Ted." Delphine laughed slightly, almost knowing the presumptuous question to be asked next.

"So what's your partner's name? Us ladies are always excited to meet the husband! " Melissa asked, whilst Delphine debated how to tell them.

"Well, actually, umm.." Delphine trailed off, as she was used to Cosima doing all the talking. "Her name is Cosima, and we got married last august." Delphine smiled, and braced herself for the questions that could follow. Cosima was always so good at just wiping them off, but for Delphine this was the first time.

"Oh! Sorry I presumed!" Jill expressed, though not showng any signs of awkwardness. Delphine breathed a sigh of relief, before Jill continued. "So, what does Cosima do for a living?" Jill asked.

"She's a doctor, we both are. Though I mostly work part time now, as I wanted to be there for Emilia more." Delphine explained. "What about you guys? Do you have jobs?"

"Well I'm mostly a stay at home, but I help out in the dance shop here a lot" Melissa explained.

Before anyone else could say anything else, Abby signalled for them to come downstairs. Glancing out of the window, Delphine spotted Emilia with her pink dancewear on, smiling away.

"Oooh briefing time!" Holly exclaimed, but pausing after seeing Delphine's confused expression. "Basically we all just go in studio A at the end of the morning class about the competition this week and the Pyramid."

 _"The Pyramid?"_ Delphine thought, slightly confused as Gia had never spoken about this before _. "Maybe it was just something they do as like a handshake or a chant."_ Brushing it out of her thoughts, Delphine took off her stilettos and pushed open the door and walked in, noticing Emilia and Nia holding hands, just like she does with Kira _. "I think she's made a best friend."_ Delphine smiled, before turning to face Abby.

"Girls!" Abby shouted, marching through the door of studio one. On the mirror facing the dancers, there were little rectangular pieces of card stuck on.

Nia tapped Emilia lightly on the shoulder. "This is called pyramid. Abby ranks us from worst to best, but it's okay if you're on bottom row." Nia paused before looking down at her feet. "I usually am." She whispered.

Emilia saw the sadness painted across her face, she patted her on the shoulder and comfortingly said "But we can improve together though? And one day we'll be the best we can. That's what my Mommy always says!" Emilia exclaimed, holding Nia's hand. Nia looked up and smiled at her, and then nodded. "Yes! We'll be the best dancers in the world!" Nia and Emilia began to giggle, and soon Maddie and Chloe had joined in.

"Girls! Come on stop messing around. We need to get on with pyramid! You can stretch in front of the mirror." Abby instructed as she strutted towards the "pyramid" and gestured for the girls to sit down.

"Girls, welcome to a new season!" Many of the little dancers started to cheer, Emilia just sat with a huge smile of excitement on her face. "We have a lot to get through today, but I would like to start by letting our newest dancer introduce herself. A couple of you have already met her."

Emilia stood up, and in her clearest, most confident voice (which Cosima had taught her) she spoke "Hi. My name is Emilia. I love to dance and I can speak a little bit of French!"

Little to Emilia's knowledge, Delphine was listening in and felt an essence of pride wash over her. She was so proud of the little girl Emilia had grown up to be.

"Thank you Emilia. You may take a seat now." Emilia beamed up at Abby, before dropping back down next to Nia. "Girls. As I said before, this will be a busy season. I have decided to try something I've never done before. We will be competing at a new competition every week." Abby waited for all the girls to stop gawping at each other. "I believe in you girls and I k ow that you will be able to persevere. We won nationals last year, and you were on the lower side of the age category."

Brooke but her lip before smiling. As did Mackenzie.

"On to the pyramid." Abby exclaimed. "Chloe looks excited" Emilia thought.

"On the bottom row, firstly, we have Emilia. You're new, and one day I want you here." Abby pointed to the top. "Okay?"

"Okay." Emilia beamed at Miss Abby.

"Secondly, we have Mackenzie. You came along to nationals, you didn't dance, but you enjoyed yourself, yes?" Mackenzie nodded. She loved seeing Brooke do all her acro tricks for her solos. She didn't really look up to her sister, Maddie, often. Maddie was a contemporary/lyrical dancer, and Mackenzie was only interested in doing the gymnastic side of things. She hoped she would get a duet with Brooke this season.

"Thirdly, on the bottom row, we have Nia. I thought you looked nice in the groups, but you must learn to correct your mistakes." Nia nodded back.

"Now, moving up, we have Paige. Similar to Nia, you must pick up on your mistakes. Your solo, in my eyes, was good. Shame the judges didn't think that." Paige half smiled back, though she was pleased she wasn't bottom row anymore. "Next, we have Maddie. I was so proud of you for hitting that arabesque in your solo. We will definitely be working on your technique this season. In the group you fell out of your turns, I'm not impressed." Maddie simply accepted it, looked straight ahead and took criticism like a pro. "Next, Brooke. You starred in the group, your technique was amazing, we won because of you," Brooke smiled, and the girls gave her a round of applause. "Your solo placed second, and we need to you place first. Yes?" Abby replied. Brooke nodded, obviously determined. "And, on the top of the pyramid, we have Chloe!" Delphine turned round to see Christi clapping and smiling, and she saw Chloe hugging Paige, smiling her little heart out.

"You won a national title, Junior Miss ballet of Pennsylvania. Everyone in that audience was rooting for you to win, and I'm so glad you did. Well done." Abby started to clap for her, and gave her a hug.

"Now, I have three solos to give out, a duet and group." Abby glanced to Emilia. Delphine looked nervous. "What does Abby have in store for her?" Delphine thought.

"My first solo, is going to Chloe. It is called Night Owl, and the style is ballet/lyrical." Abby recited, Christi clapping even more, and Delphine smiled.

"My second solo is going to Maddie. The style will be contemporary. It is called Maybe Today." Maddie smiled, wanting to make Abby proud of her. "My final solo is going to Emilia." Delphine gasped, and clapped her hands and all the other mothers smiled around her. "Your solo will be musical theatre, and it is called Bunny Hop." Emilia beamed up at Abby, and to Nia. Emilia was still a few years younger that Nia and the others, but was around the same age as Mackenzie. "Now, my duet, after much consideration, is going to Brooke and Mackenzie." Mackenzie leaped up and down with joy, and hugged Brooke. Abby laughed at them, knowing how much Mackenzie wanted to dance with her eldest dancer. "Your duet is called Miss Sass. It is an acro jazz routine." Brooke smiled, even though she was doing a duet with someone a lot younger than herself, but atleast she could fit her acro tricks in the routine.

"Finally, our group routine. Mackenzie and Emilia, you will not be dancing in the group, you must focus on your solo/duets. Nia and Paige, you will be doing some partner work in the number, and it is called Golden sands. It is about a desert, people trekking through it, they're struggling but they can see the beauty in the environment. The style will be contemporary." The girls all looked at one another in excitement. "Maddie, could you run upstairs and call all the mothers down to discuss costumes please?" Abby directed. Maddie nodded and swiftly exited.

Once all the mothers had arrived downstairs and Delphine had introduced herself, Abby started to discuss what costumes they were to wear for competition.

"Brooke and Mackenzie's duet. I want something sassy, streams, that kind of thing. Reds, oranges, purples. I want their hair up in high ponytails, ribbons and noodle curled. Got that?" Abby instructed, before moving on to talking about the other girls' solos.

"Emilia, your costume is on its way, it should arrive tomorrow. As for her hair, I need it in tight French plaits, okay?" Delphine nodded, making a mental note to get Cosima to teach her to braid. Despite actually being French, she just couldn't get the hang of it. She could untangle them, as she often helped Cosima undo her braids. You could really see the similarity between Cosima and her sisters without her chunky braids in. Not that Delphine cared. Her wife looked beautiful either way.

"For the group piece, I want yellow/orange/brown rags and khaki coloured baseball army hats. They need to look like they've been on a real journey."

The mothers looked at each other and discussed possible costumes for a minute, asking Abby various questions. After what felt like ages for the girls (as they were standing) the mothers finally disappeared upstairs.

"Gianna!" Abby shouted. "Okay girls, Gianna's going to run through the group music with you, and I will take Brooke, Mackenzie and Emilia to run through their music, and I will start choreographing the duet. Emilia, after I run the music past you, I want you to go back into studio A and watch the girls rehearse. You need to know how we do it. Okay?" Abby said, whilst all the girls nodded.

-to be continued-


End file.
